Hydraulic Fracking Essay

Hydraulic Fracking, the method of getting natural gas from the ground, has caused a number of negative affects on not only people but the earth. Numerous amounts of health problems are being noticed, air pollution is rising and the waste being dumped has caused issues for people in the area. Many people don’t quite understand what Hydraulic Fracking is doing to us and it is an issue that needs to be recognized..

The air pollution from the gas that is leaked during the process of drilling increases global warming and is a major danger to the planet. Although hydraulic fracking creates a natural gas, it threatens rivers and streams that provides clean drinking water, habitat for wildlife and recreational opportunities. For example,

Exposure to toxic chemicals ,even at low levels, can cause tremendous harm to humans. In Colorado, for example, an evaluation of birth defects in areas with high concentrations of oil and gas activities found that mothers who lived near many oil/gas wells were 30% more likely to have babies with heart defects. Also, people living near natural-gas wells were more than twice as likely to report upper-respiratory and skin problems than people who lived further away. Not only does fracking impact our health, but it also affects the health of other animals. There have been numerous reports of peoples’ animals drinking their well water then more than half of those animals having a stillborn birth. “The perspective of the gas industry fails to show adequate concern for the long-term health and quality of life of people,” says Dr. Sheila Bushkin MD, MPH of the Institute for Health and the Environment at University at Albany, “When you listen to the personal experiences of actual residents of Pennsylvania and other states where fracking has gone forward, you will hear stories of dead cows, pets, sick children, poisoned water and other serious health and environmental problems. These stories confirm our need for much greater research and evidence-based scientific